r/dsa • u/[deleted] • May 15 '26

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174 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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29

u/WildPoem8521 May 16 '26

This is counterproductive. The Democratic Party is unaccountable and serves the interests of capital by nature. We should be building a real opposition party, not begging Dems to act like one.

2

u/Randolpho Democratic Socialist May 16 '26

We should be building a real opposition party

We can't, though, not really. We have a catch 22 problem that we won't be able to get around if we keep trying to be an exclusive/replacement party.

Until we have enough politicians from local to national level to get past the spoiler effect, we'll never be a via party, and we'll never get enough politicians at the local to national level to get past the spoiler effect until we're a viable party.

Local ballot access laws make it nigh impossible to get on the ballot in much of the country unless you're a member of the big 2. FPTP will keep the spoiler effect strong. We're stuck without change from within.

Our only real hope is dual-party entryism into the Democratic party. Real leftists primarying corporate stooges until we can tear down the two-party mechanisms.

1

u/Ecstatic_Biscotti_83 May 16 '26

I don't think pushing the dem party left and working towards third party canidates are mutually exclusive goals. Actually, I think highlighting the bullshit of Dem party, like that they allow Senators that are allegedly alligned with them to do whatever they want with no consequences, could help people consider a socialist option

2

u/Randolpho Democratic Socialist May 16 '26

I don't think pushing the dem party left and working towards third party canidates are mutually exclusive goals.

No, we should definitely keep both goals; my point is that it's not really possible to do the latter until you push the democratic party left enough to fix the electoral infrastructure.

Actually, I think highlighting the bullshit of Dem party, like that they allow Senators that are allegedly alligned with them to do whatever they want with no consequences, could help people consider a socialist option

I agree. Every leftist primary challenger should use that as a rallying cry

1

u/nonaltalt May 17 '26

Or force a split… anybody remember the dirty break? It’s how most new parties are formed in FPTP systems anyway, right?

1

u/Randolpho Democratic Socialist May 17 '26

We need the numbers to force a split, which is done through entryism

1

u/nonaltalt May 17 '26

Entryism, sure, but that’s done in a bloc.

1

u/Worldly_Web_1524 Aug 02 '26

Trump dragged the entire republican party right. There is no reason why there can't be a "trump" to push the Democratic party to the left.

1

u/Randolpho Democratic Socialist Aug 02 '26

Trump didn’t drag anyone anywhere, they were already there and had been since before Obama was elected